January 27th, 2010 — Miscellaneous
Dear Reader,
I want to thank you for reading and responding to what you’ve read here at the red pen. I trust that it has been as much of a learning experience for you as it’s been for me.
For now, I must put the pen away. I need to devote this time to a couple of projects that are ultimately more important than my ongoing evaluations here. My hope is that they will have a greater lasting value than what any of us might write on a blog.
To God be the glory!
Chris
PS For those who are still interested, my earlier analysis of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 26th, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Chan’s text.)
Chapter 1: Stop Praying
Page 30
God is all-knowing
+ / ? “Each of us, to some degree, fools our friends and family about who we really are. But it’s impossible to do that with God. He knows each of us, deeply and specifically. He knows our thoughts before we think them, our actions before we commit them, whether we are lying down or sitting or walking around. He knows who we are and what we are about. We cannot escape Him, not even if we want to. When I grow weary of trying to be faithful to Him and want a break, it doesn’t come as a surprise to God.”
This is true, of course. Even the well-trained five-year-old in Sunday School can grasp the concept that God knows everything.
But let’s turn this around.
Every five-year-old in Sunday School at my church is taught that the reason we feel uncomfortable by the idea of God’s omniscience has everything to do with our sin.
The truth about ourselves, really, is rather rotten: When we sin, we don’t want God to know about it. He knows everything, including everything about our individual sins, and we don’t like that.
Wonder if every five-year-old in Sunday School at your church has the same clear, biblical understanding…
+ / – “For David, God’s knowledge led him to worship. He viewed it as wonderful and meaningful. He wrote in Psalm 139 that even in the darkness he couldn’t hide from God; that while he was in his mother’s womb, God was there.”
Right again, but you missed a golden opportunity to place God’s knowledge in the proper context. While David wrote in Psalm 139 that it was impossible to hide from God, he wrote in Psalm 51:
“For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.” (3-5, NASB)
You refer to David in the womb, unable to hide from God’s sight, but you know that your argument would have twice the weight if you would simply use the word.
Which word? (Come on, say it with me.) SIN!
Pastor Chan, you’re not doing justice to God’s Word if you’re unwilling to use the clear terminology given to us in His Word, and you know it.
For steering away from this unpopular word twice so far in your text, you’ve earned 20 demerits, and 15 minutes in the Repentance Corner.
(Okay, if I was truly your schoolmaster, and not simply your friendly volunteer editor, that’s what I would prescribe.)
Shame on you and shame on your editor.
+ “Hebrews 4:13 says, ‘Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.’”
Better. Let me knock that down to 15 demerits and 10 minutes in the Repentance Corner.
- “It is sobering to realize that this is the same God who is holy and eternal, the Maker of the billions of galaxies and thousands of tree species in the rainforest. This is the God who takes the time to know all the little details about each of us. He does not have to know us so well, but He chooses to. ”
Better make that 50 demerits and 30 minutes in the Corner.
Hebrews 4:13 speaks of us giving account of the thoughts, words and deeds of our lives to God after we pass, and you write as though the verse is speaking about how much God loves us? Are you kidding me?
This reeks of the man-centered teaching of self-esteem, in which everything revolves around me. “Even God’s thoughts center on little old me.”
You wrote, “He does not have to know us so well, but He chooses to.” Actually, if He’s a righteous judge (and He is), He does have to know everything about our lives as well as He does.
Psalm 51 should bring us to our knees, in knowledge of the fact that our sin never escapes the sight of a holy and righteous Judge who hates sin.
Too bad your readers will never learn why it’s so important that we understand the gravity of God’s omniscience…unless they read it for themselves in God’s Word, that is…
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 25th, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Chan’s text.)
Chapter 1: Stop Praying
Pages 29-30
At this point, Chan takes the next few pages to emphasize five of God’s attributes. (Why only these five, I’m not exactly sure.) They are God’s holiness, eternality, omniscience, omnipotence, and justice.
God is holy
+ “A lot of people say that whatever you believe about God is fine, so long as you are sincere. But that is comparable to describing your friend in one instance as a three-hundred-pound sumo wrestler and in another as a five-foot-two, ninety-pound gymnast. No matter how sincere you are in your explanations, both descriptions of your friend simply cannot be true. The preposterous part about our doing this to God is that He already has a name, an identity. We don’t get to decide who God is. “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am” (Ex. 3:14)”
Exactly right. We have no business changing God’s identity when He has so clearly expressed who He is to us in Scripture. Our problem as Christians, I think, is a tendency to overemphasize certain attributes of God (like God’s power or love, for example) while underemphasizing those attributes that our flesh would simply rather not dwell on, such as His wrath or His justice. (Glad to see justice among those attributes you’re touching on; looking forward to reading how you handle it.)
+ “To say that God is holy is to say that He is set apart, distinct from us. And because of His set apart–ness, there is no way we can ever fathom all of who He is…Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can’t contain Him. Isn’t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate?”
This is also well-put. While you’re sure to agree that much, much more could be said about God’s holiness than what you fill in ¾ of a page, you do a good job of getting to the core of God’s holiness: perfect, set apart. (Wonder whether you teach that we believers should live in such a way that we are set apart…)
God is eternal
+ “He always has been, since before there was an earth, a universe, or even angels. God exists outside of time, and since we are within time, there is no way we will ever totally grasp that concept. Not being able to fully understand God is frustrating, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending. What a stunted, insignificant god that would be!”
It is frustrating at times, yet we are compelled to try to understand (to the extent that mere mortals can understand). Glad that our God remains magnificent, beyond the limitations of our wildest imaginations!
+ / ? “Please stop here, even if just for a moment, and glorify the eternal God: ‘But you, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.… But you remain the same, and your years will never end’ (Ps. 102:12, 27).”
This is good advice, to read Scripture, consider what it means, and glorify God as a result of reading. What I don’t understand is that you would still do this apart from praying to God, verbalizing our glories to Him directly.
You’re actually rather vague. You essentially instruct us to not pray (for now), and instead glorify God, but you never really tell us what that looks like, apart from standing in awe of His creation or meditating upon particular doctrinal truths about Him. More thorough instruction in this area would help greatly…
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 22nd, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Chan’s text.)
Chapter 1: Stop Praying
Page 28
+ / - “We are programmed to focus on what we don’t have, bombarded multiple times throughout the day with what we need to buy that will make us feel happier or sexier or more at peace. This dissatisfaction transfers over to our thinking about God. We forget that we already have everything we need in Him. Because we don’t often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshipped and loved.”
This is very true. Our thinking about God does get messed by the constant bombarding of messages from our culture – along those generated by my own wicked flesh – that convince us that it is we who should be exalted, and not God.
This would be stated more powerfully and thoroughly, of course, if you would speak directly to the biblical truth of sin and our flesh, rather than dance around the subjects…
+ “We are to fear Him.”
Yes, so long as we fear Him rightly. Looking forward to how you address that.
+ “A.W. Tozer writes, ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.… Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like.’”
Nice use of Tozer’s thoughts here. Our battle against our flesh does indeed begin in our mind. In Romans 12:1-2, we get great instruction on the matter:
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (KJV)
So glad that Paul spells out exactly how it is that we can live conformed to God’s standard of holiness. So glad that, by the power of the indwelt Holy Spirit, every believer in Christ can be thusly transformed!
+ / ? “We have seen how He is the Creator of both the magnitude of the galaxies and the complexity of caterpillars. But what is He like? What are His characteristics? What are His defining attributes? How are we to fear Him? To speak to Him?”
While I personally wouldn’t have thought to begin a series of small segments (examining God’s attributes one-by-one) at this point in the text, I see where it should have some value in terms of the current discussion. Eager to see if you land close to where Paul landed in Romans 12:1-2 or not…
Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you on Monday for more line-by-line analysis!
Chris
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 21st, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Chan’s text.)
Chapter 1: Stop Praying
Page 27
? “There is an epidemic of spiritual amnesia going around, and none of us is immune. No matter how many fascinating details we learn about God’s creation, no matter how many pictures we see of His galaxies, and no matter how many sunsets we watch, we still forget.”
A little vague here. Looking forward to more clarification.
? / - “Most of us know that we are supposed to love and fear God; that we are supposed to read our Bibles and pray so that we can get to know Him better; that we are supposed to worship Him with our lives. But actually living it out is challenging.”
Very true, but I wonder: Are you saying that the reason we don’t live out our Christian lives as we should is because we don’t spent enough time in awe of God’s creation?
The apostle Paul tells us of his own conflict in this area in Romans 7:14-20:
“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.” (ESV)
What’s keeping Paul (and every other Christian, for that matter) from victorious living in Christ? (Shout it with me, readers.) SIN.
What’s keeping you and other modern-day pastors and teachers from using the same terminology that Paul and other writers of the Bible used? (Shout it with me, readers!) BOOK SALES.
Thought I was going to say, “sin,” didn’t you? (Well, read between the lines…)
? / - “It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn’t it be easy to love a God so wonderful? When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is. Our amnesia is flaring up again.”
Spiritual amnesia. Why don’t I ever read of that term in the Bible? While I realize (from personal experience, unfortunately) that there is something to this spiritual amnesia of which you write, to write about it apart from our overall problem with sin is tantamount to biblical amnesia.
(“Will someone get this pastor a cold compact? He’s taken a nasty hit to the noggin, and has completely forgotten the biblical doctrine of sin.”)
? “It may sound “un-Christian” to say that on some mornings I don’t feel like loving God, or I just forget to. But I do. In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.”
I agree, but find it very strange that you consistently speak of our need to remember God throughout our day while forgoing the practice of praying to God.
Isn’t it a whole lot easier to forget someone with whom you’ve suspended communication?
Chapter and verse, please.
- “I recently attended my high school reunion. People kept coming up to me and saying, “She’s your wife?” They were amazed, I guess, that a woman so beautiful would marry someone like me. It happened enough times that I took a good look at a photograph of the two of us.”
You’re recycling the same argument, repeating this idea that we need spend time taking in God’s creation so that we remember God. Please omit.
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 20th, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Chan’s text.)
Chapter 1: Stop Praying
Pages 25-26
+ A lot today regarding the diversity and richness of God’s creation:
“Switch gears with me for a minute and think about the detailed intricacy of the other side of creation. Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That’s quite a few, for a bug. The average elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it. And your own heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body that it could squirt blood up to 30 feet.
“Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn’t have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn’t have to put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did.
“How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? Or did you know that spiders produce three kinds of silk?
“Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair in your follicles is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat?… I’m sure you knew that, but have you ever marveled at it?
“Whatever God’s reasons for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God’s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like.”
Some good information, and it looks like you’re headed in the right direction with it. Next is a reference to Psalm 19:1-4.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (NIV)
Excellent use of this verse. Knowledge has its place, to be sure, but knowledge of God ought to cause those who believe in Him and desire to obey Him to rightly worship Him.
+ “This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of Kings, the Beginning and the End, the One who was and is and is to come. I know you’ve heard this before, but I don’t want you to miss it.”
Exactly right.
+ / ? “I sometimes struggle with how to properly respond to God’s magnitude in a world bent on ignoring or merely tolerating Him. But know this: God will not be tolerated. He instructs us to worship and fear Him.”
Amen and amen. I must admit that I oftentimes fail to respond rightly. I falter and fail when I forget that God, who is utterly beyond my imagination, is entirely accessible to me (and every other born-again believer in Christ) through His Word and through God-centered prayer and worship because of all that Jesus accomplished through the Cross.
That’s why I still find so odd that you ask Christians to stop praying and instead worship, as though they are mutually exclusive activities…
+ / - “Go back and reread the last two paragraphs. Go to the Web site www.crazylovebook.com and watch the “Just Stop and Think” fifteen-minute video. Close this book if you need to, and meditate on the almighty One who dwells in unapproachable light, the glorious One.”
Fifteen minutes of Pastor Chan (in a wetsuit, no less) walking around the coast of California holding a surfboard, playing it loose with biblical truth sometimes, hitting the mark at other times. You be the judge.
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 19th, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Osteen’s text.)
Chapter 1: Stop Praying
Pages 23-24
- “What if I said, ‘Stop praying’? What if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word? Solomon warned us not to rush into God’s presence with words. That’s what fools do. And often, that’s what we do.”
I’m reminded of what my own pastor says on the first Sunday morning service each month, in regards to the Lord’s Supper. He is careful to remind us that 1 Cor. 11 instructs us to “partake in a manner that is worthy,” making sure that we evaluate ourselves honestly before the Lord, and deal with any sin in our lives that is not yet dealt with prior to partaking of the elements.
Why does this come to mind? Because your instruction, based on the words of Solomon, seem to throw the out the baby with the bathwater. Have you forgotten that Paul instructs Christians to “pray without ceasing?” (1 Thess. 5:17, KJV)
All of this needs to be handled in light of the rest of Scripture. Taken together, we see that God commands us to be in careful and continual prayer, apart from those fleeting prayers that are the result of rushing into God’s presence without much thought or reverence.
Cherry-picking a particular passage (one that you didn’t quote or reference, by the way) to make a splashy entrance may go far with the rubes (as they used to say in the circus), but it won’t – and shouldn’t – go far with believers who know their Bibles.
Please prayerfully consider changing up both the title and the beginning of this chapter.
+ “The wise man comes to God without saying a word and stands in awe of Him. It may seem a hopeless endeavor, to gaze at the invisible God. But Romans 1:20 tells us that through creation, we see His ‘invisible qualities’ and ‘divine nature.’”
Very true. I’m guessing every believer can agree with your premise, that it may seem hopeless “to gaze at the invisible God.” Glad for the promises we have in passages like Romans 1:20!
? “Let’s begin this book by gazing at God in silence. What I want you to do right now is to go online and look at the ‘Awe Factor’ video at www.crazylovebook.com to get a taste of the awe factor of our God. Seriously—go do it. Speechless? Amazed? Humbled? When I first saw those images, I had to worship. I didn’t want to speak to or share it with anyone. I just wanted to sit quietly and admire the Creator.”
I found this to be somewhat strange, in all honesty. While the images of our planet and the universe were interesting, I found that I was very distracted by your (Pastor Francis’) narration over the visual presentation. Good attempt, but it missed the mark. (Perhaps editing out the sound? No offense, but if you’re talking about images speaking for themselves, then let them speak for themselves.)
+ “Why would God create more than 350,000,000,000 galaxies (and this is a conservative estimate) that generations of people never saw or even knew existed? Do you think maybe it was to make us say, ‘Wow, God is unfathomably big’? Or perhaps God wanted us to see these pictures so that our response would be, ‘Who do I think I am?’ R. C. Sproul writes, ‘Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.’”
Amen and amen. We need to be continually humbled by God’s majesty and the vastness of who He is. Spending time observing the great seascape that is Creation around us, I believe, is intended to do just that. (Good use of the quote from Sproul, too.)
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 18th, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Chan’s text.)
Preface
+ “We all know something’s wrong. At first I thought it was just me. Then I stood before twenty thousand Christian college students and asked, “How many of you have read the New Testament and wondered if we in the church are missing it?” When almost every hand went up, I felt comforted. At least I’m not crazy.”
A great start. My own hand would’ve shot up at being asked the question.
+ “In this book I am going to ask some hard questions. They will resonate with what a lot of us feel but are generally afraid to articulate and explore. Don’t worry—this isn’t another book written to bash churches.”
Nice warning and disclaimer. Important at this juncture.
+ “I haven’t always felt this way. I grew up believing in God without having a clue what He is like…Until just a few years ago I was quite happy with how God was working in me and in the church. Then God began changing my heart. This took place largely during the times I spent reading His Word. The conviction I felt through the teachings of Scripture, coupled with several experiences in third-world countries, changed everything. Some serious paradigm shattering happened in my life, and consequently in our church.”
Important for us to understand what brought you to this conclusion personally.
? “This book is written for those who want more Jesus. It is for those who are bored with what American Christianity offers.”
Can’t tell where you’re going with this, as this is a common statement from those churches with a seeker-sensitive bent. Whether you’re going the route of foundational bible truth or something made more palatable for those pastors and laypeople desiring something easier to live with, only time will tell.
? “I hope reading this book will convince you of something: that by surrendering yourself totally to God’s purposes, He will bring you the most pleasure in this life and the next.”
This is approaching a level of hedonism in “the goal of Christianity” that must be handled very carefully. John Piper, in Desiring God, speaks of Christian Hedonism in a very careful manner. Hope you do, too…
+ “We are going to look at how the Bible calls us to live our lives. It is important that we not measure our spiritual health by the people around us, who are pretty much like us. To begin this journey, we’ll first address our inaccurate view of God and, consequently, of ourselves.”
Always a good thing to get our thinking right with what the Bible says about ourselves.
+ “But before we look at what is wrong and address it, we need to understand something. The core problem isn’t the fact that we’re lukewarm, halfhearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all is why we are this way, and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God.”
This is not a new concept. J. B. Phillips wrote, “Your God is Too Small,” fifty years ago. Got to be fair, though, and evaluate your text on its own merits.
+ “The first three chapters are absolutely foundational to this book. Though parts of it may not be “new” material to you, allow these sacred truths to move you to worship. I pray that your reading of the next few pages will be interrupted by spontaneous and meaningful praise to God. Allow these words to communicate old truths to your heart in a fresh way.”
Fair enough. Very glad whenever a pastor or bible teacher is honest about the value of timeless truths. Good for you, and great for your readers.
+ “After the foundation has been laid in the first three chapters, the last seven chapters call us to examine ourselves. We will address life in light of the crux of who God is. We’ll discover what is wrong in our churches and, ultimately, in ourselves.”
Again, this kind of self-evaluation, when biblically-based and motivated by love and obedience to God, is always a good thing.
+ “Come with me on this journey. I don’t promise it will be painless. Change, as we all know, is uncomfortable. It’s up to you to respond to what you read. But you will have a choice: to adjust how you live daily or to stay the same.”
Fair enough. As no glaring red flags have yet shown themselves, I’m interested to read more!
Join me tomorrow as I begin to evaluate Chapter 1 of Crazy Love,
Chris
PS For new readers, my earlier analysis of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 15th, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Osteen’s text.)
+ Foreword
Many positive remarks from Chris Tomlin. (Tomlin is the songwriter and worship leader of Passion Conferences, and states that he is a personal friend of Chan in the opening of the foreword.) Rather than critique Tomlin’s statements, I’ll let the fellow speak for himself, and briefly comment at the end.
“If you are around Francis for more than thirty minutes, you soon realize that he is a man with great vision and resolve for the mission of Jesus. Some might say that Francis is a bit of an idealist in thinking that one life can really make a dent in the world. But I would say that Francis is the ultimate realist…someone who believes that God is really who He says He is and that the true reality of this life is to follow Him wholeheartedly.”
“The book you have in your hand, Crazy Love, may just be the most challenging book outside of God’s Word you will read this year. The status quo and norms of the so-called “Christian” life that so many of us are used to experiencing are in for a shock!”
“As Francis so brilliantly illustrates, the life that Jesus calls us to is absolute craziness to the world. Sure, it’s fine and politically correct to believe in God, but to really love Him is a whole different story. Yeah, it’s nice and generous to give to the needy at Christmas or after some disaster, but to sacrifice your own comfort and welfare for another may look like madness to a safe and undisturbed world.”
“I am challenged to the core by the pages you’re about to read. I am excited that you are diving into this much-needed book. I encourage you to face up to the convictions of Crazy Love. I know your heart and spirit will be stirred again for your First Love.”
Some noteworthy praise here, to be sure! A testimonial like this is certain to whet the appetite of any serious Christian reader.
Kudos to the editor as well, for allowing Tomlin to make it very clear right off the bat that this is a book for bible-believing Christians! (Now if only we could get authors Wilkinson, Lucado, Osteen and a myriad of others to follow suit…)
Join me Monday for Chan’s introduction to Crazy Love!
Chris
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
January 14th, 2010 — Open Letters
(New readers can click here to download the introduction and first chapter of Pastor Chan’s book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God. The red text below is my commentary to what we read in Chan’s text.)
Dear Pastor Francis,
Hello there. You don’t know it, but my readers have unanimously chosen your text to be evaluated here at the red pen.
I’ll do my best to fairly hold your text against Scripture to see just how well you did.
If you’re not so open to constructive criticism, you won’t appreciate what I write about your book. I’ll be pointing out what content jives with Scripture, and I’ll be pointing out what content deviates. If you are open to constructive criticism, please take what you read here and apply to the next edition of this book (if you ever print a revised edition), and to whatever else you might write or preach in the future.
To date, I’ve examined books written by Rick Warren, Rob Bell, Bruce Wilkinson, John Piper, Max Lucado and Joel Osteen. (I reviewed books by Wilkinson, Piper and Lucado simultaneously, just to give my readers more variety.) To learn more about me and why I hold popular Christian books of our day up to the light of Scripture, go to the red pen and click on any of the pages available on the right.
To God be the glory!
Chris
+ Title and Subtitle
I must be honest: I love this title and subtitle combination. Rather than something silly or weird, “Crazy Love” (when put together with its subtitle) communicates a love that is so big, so over the top, that One would have to be crazy to love like that…if He weren’t God, of course.
The subtitle is just as effective. We all desire to be loved, but what it means to be overwhelmed by a God who loves us relentlessly is simply outside of our understanding. My point: We read your subtitle, and we want to know more.
Looking forward to reading this, and learning more about God and His relentless love!
? Testimonials
The only testimonial I could find was that of Louie Giglio, director of Passion Conferences. He wrote:
“With an urgency that seeks to awaken a sleeping church mired in the comfort of middle ground, Crazy Love gets to the heart of the matter and leaves you wanting more – more of the matchless Jesus who offers radical life for all.”
A very positive testimonial, to be sure. I don’t know much about the Passion Conferences, but a little research goes a long way. (Click here for more on Passion Conferences.)
? Table of Contents
I must say that some of your chapter titles, like “Serving Leftovers to a Holy God,” “Profile of the Obsessed,” and “Who Really Lives That Way?” are compelling and convicting. I want to read more.
The title of the first chapter, “Stop Praying,” seems unbiblical on the surface, though one must of course dig before coming to premature conclusions.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the foreword written by Chris Tomlin, songwriter and worship leader of Passion Conferences. On Monday, we’ll dig into your introduction, and begin analyzing Chapter 1 on Tuesday.
Until then!
Chris
PS For new readers, my earlier analyses of Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile by Rob Bell and Don Golden is available for free download. Simply click on my title, Clear as a Bell, and decide for yourself whether or not Bell’s teachings match those found in God’s Word.
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